Here's my theory - Vince hates it and feels threatened when anyone appearing in the role of an authority figure, usually garnering heat and a lot of it - Big Johnny/Vickie Guerrero(first run) for example - get too "popular" in the role. I'm sure Vince is trying to protect the Mr.McMahon character and it offends his ego to see someone, especially those he considers less than him (which is everyone), do the job as well as him. If left there for too long, Vince would be forced to admit to himself that it wasn't just him (although Mr.McMahon is great) as much as it is the character.
Another offender of Vince's ego was Jim Ross. I truly believe Vince was threatened by JR's wrestling knowledge, his acumen and most likely, his rapport with the wrestlers. I will bet my left nut that guys were constantly going to JR for advice and this would have burned in Vince's craw. So, he was relieved of his duties.
John Laurinaitis, I believe, has suffered from a little of both these things.

Pefrectly understandable and very good points but I don't think there's anybody i'd go to for advice over Vince...Hate him or love him the man is a wrestling GENIUS.

Pefrectly understandable and very good points but I don't think there's anybody i'd go to for advice over Vince...Hate him or love him the man is a wrestling GENIUS.

Maybe he once was....but I'd say Vince thrived being equal parts luck and good decision making.

Let's look at the Monday Night Wars. That was not so much won by WWE, as lost by WCW. Don't kid yourself into thinking Vince orchestrated the Attitude Era. The whole thing happened out of desperation for ratings. Vince was very lucky to get a few key things working for him at the same time - Russo was still around, Jim Ross was doing HUGE work behind the scenes as well as HUGE work selling guys on the mic and WWE were so desperate that they let the wrestlers exercise a greater degree of creativity.
The big difference between what happened in WCW and WWE is this - both companies were "taken over" for a time by wrestlers pretty much running the locker room and influencing creative. Difference being WWE was by that stage full of 'company men', who showed more loyalty to their employers - WCW was full of guys interested in how much TV time they could get and how big their paycheck were.
The luck came in when WWE struck gold in the form of Stone Cold, The Rock, Mankind and The Undertaker (and to a lesser degree HHH/DX). Let's face it, when most people bring up the AE, it's these guys they talk about almost exclusively. With these guys and their chemistry and the fact that they were more concerned with getting the company over than themselves (although they knew that in the long run, they'd also benefit of course), the WWE caught lightning in a bottle. But it was anything but planned out exactly like that.

The WWE today is so heavily scripted and controlled because Vince buys into the same thing that most people believe and that's that HE won the war, all on his lonesome. It's a total misconception. Back then, it was loosely scripted and more "let it ride and see what happens" (like the Stone Cold 3:16 promo). But it was desperation and not design.

I still have huge respect and regard for Vince but he is very out of touch these days. He's coasting on his rep.

Here's my theory - Vince hates it and feels threatened when anyone appearing in the role of an authority figure, usually garnering heat and a lot of it - Big Johnny/Vickie Guerrero(first run) for example - get too "popular" in the role. I'm sure Vince is trying to protect the Mr.McMahon character and it offends his ego to see someone, especially those he considers less than him (which is everyone), do the job as well as him. If left there for too long, Vince would be forced to admit to himself that it wasn't just him (although Mr.McMahon is great) as much as it is the character.
Another offender of Vince's ego was Jim Ross. I truly believe Vince was threatened by JR's wrestling knowledge, his acumen and most likely, his rapport with the wrestlers. I will bet my left nut that guys were constantly going to JR for advice and this would have burned in Vince's craw. So, he was relieved of his duties.
John Laurinaitis, I believe, has suffered from a little of both these things.

Wow, it really does make sense if you look at that way.

This would also explain why the babyface authority figures like Teddy Long and Booker T last so long, but the heels are lucky to last a year in the role.

WHAT?! Eric Bischoff... that name alone and his tenure with raw as GM makes your comment invalid... far more likely is Vince is looking for another Bischoff and no one is going to be him. Big Johnny was annoying,he was the kind of guy i beat up in high school. i would Rathr have Vickie in the spot, and i am NOT a fan of hers. he was monotone, over acted when he remembered to react and had all the charisma of a dust bunny. his run was pointless, he is a great admin person and is good in his role behind the scenes.. leave him there... bring back regal maybe, or give vickie the spot permanently but keep her out of "relationship angles with the top stars" hell give it to king, even Micheal "god you bore the not out of me" Cole, but the only funny thing to happen during "big johnny's" reign was santino calling him Johnny lanryngitis. the costant tampering in the fueds made them less effective and he doesn't ave the charisma to pull of what bischoff did, we aren't going to have a GM that makes a big impact on wrestlin until we have another GM come along who has that kind of charisma

just because i didn't agree doesn't mean i didn't listen, it just means you were wrong. Now go away please.

WHAT?! Eric Bischoff... that name alone and his tenure with raw as GM makes your comment invalid... far more likely is Vince is looking for another Bischoff and no one is going to be him. Big Johnny was annoying,he was the kind of guy i beat up in high school. i would Rathr have Vickie in the spot, and i am NOT a fan of hers. he was monotone, over acted when he remembered to react and had all the charisma of a dust bunny. his run was pointless, he is a great admin person and is good in his role behind the scenes.. leave him there... bring back regal maybe, or give vickie the spot permanently but keep her out of "relationship angles with the top stars" hell give it to king, even Micheal "god you bore the not out of me" Cole, but the only funny thing to happen during "big johnny's" reign was santino calling him Johnny lanryngitis. the costant tampering in the fueds made them less effective and he doesn't ave the charisma to pull of what bischoff did, we aren't going to have a GM that makes a big impact on wrestlin until we have another GM come along who has that kind of charisma

Bischoff in WWE was nothing but a puppet that Vince made dance. It was fakery at it's finest.

Here's my theory - Vince hates it and feels threatened when anyone appearing in the role of an authority figure, usually garnering heat and a lot of it - Big Johnny/Vickie Guerrero(first run) for example - get too "popular" in the role. I'm sure Vince is trying to protect the Mr.McMahon character and it offends his ego to see someone, especially those he considers less than him (which is everyone), do the job as well as him. If left there for too long, Vince would be forced to admit to himself that it wasn't just him (although Mr.McMahon is great) as much as it is the character.
Another offender of Vince's ego was Jim Ross. I truly believe Vince was threatened by JR's wrestling knowledge, his acumen and most likely, his rapport with the wrestlers. I will bet my left nut that guys were constantly going to JR for advice and this would have burned in Vince's craw. So, he was relieved of his duties.
John Laurinaitis, I believe, has suffered from a little of both these things.

Bischoff in WWE was nothing but a puppet that Vince made dance. It was fakery at it's finest.

puppet maybe, but he delivered being an asshole well. A weasel that was purely a great authority figure that made Raw so good. and besides, have you forgot Eric tried killing WWF? End it? Vince McMahon gave HIM the job of being the man to run the "A" show. And he ran Raw for upto 3 years, it was a great feat, an if he was just a puppet, Vince REALLY knew what he was doing, which means Eirc doesn;t even know how to run things by himself in TNA. Best Raw GM ever.

WHAT?! Eric Bischoff... that name alone and his tenure with raw as GM makes your comment invalid... far more likely is Vince is looking for another Bischoff and no one is going to be him. Big Johnny was annoying,he was the kind of guy i beat up in high school. i would Rathr have Vickie in the spot, and i am NOT a fan of hers. he was monotone, over acted when he remembered to react and had all the charisma of a dust bunny. his run was pointless, he is a great admin person and is good in his role behind the scenes.. leave him there... bring back regal maybe, or give vickie the spot permanently but keep her out of "relationship angles with the top stars" hell give it to king, even Micheal "god you bore the not out of me" Cole, but the only funny thing to happen during "big johnny's" reign was santino calling him Johnny lanryngitis. the costant tampering in the fueds made them less effective and he doesn't ave the charisma to pull of what bischoff did, we aren't going to have a GM that makes a big impact on wrestlin until we have another GM come along who has that kind of charisma

Johnny was bland as fuck when it came to acting, but Regal was no different, to me anyway. The only devious thing he did to make his presence felt(in the bad way) by having Raw go off the air during HHH and Orton's WWE Title match. Regal was boring to me, Eric had a great element to him which made him a force not to be reckoned with. John has something to him that made Vince think he had something to him to put him on tv. Sure he sucked on camera, but it just had the feeling of creative trying too hard to make him hated. He had potential, and I wouldn't mind him returning this year. Happy new year by the way.

puppet maybe, but he delivered being an asshole well. A weasel that was purely a great authority figure that made Raw so good. and besides, have you forgot Eric tried killing WWF? End it? Vince McMahon gave HIM the job of being the man to run the "A" show. And he ran Raw for upto 3 years, it was a great feat, an if he was just a puppet, Vince REALLY knew what he was doing, which means Eirc doesn;t even know how to run things by himself in TNA. Best Raw GM ever.

I'm never going to pretend to you that Bischoff doesn't have talent. Of course he does. All I'm saying is that he was simply an actor in WWE, no less than Mike Adamle was. EB has a natural charisma that is there to be exploited - and exploit it Vince did. But Eric had no more say in the running of Raw than John Cena controls the title shot market. I'm sure he had ideas but it was nowhere anything like his days in WCW - in fact probably no more than X Pac had a say. If they ever had have had an idea, it was surely re-appropriated to be "someone else's" idea -probably HHH's.

I wish EB had had some say. I wish the whole thing was more democratic. But it wasn't, not even then.

I'm never going to pretend to you that Bischoff doesn't have talent. Of course he does. All I'm saying is that he was simply an actor in WWE, no less than Mike Adamle was. EB has a natural charisma that is there to be exploited - and exploit it Vince did. But Eric had no more say in the running of Raw than John Cena controls the title shot market. I'm sure he had ideas but it was nowhere anything like his days in WCW - in fact probably no more than X Pac had a say. If they ever had have had an idea, it was surely re-appropriated to be "someone else's" idea -probably HHH's.

I wish EB had had some say. I wish the whole thing was more democratic. But it wasn't, not even then.

Mike Adamle was just awful, nowhere near Bischoff or anyone else. I'm sure Eric had a few says that actually got through. But if this is the only way Eric would be effective at his job, then I'd rather have that. Besides, it's not like WWE and Vince wrote his part purely to create him, they simply wrote the part for him, he made everything about his position great. practically wrote itself. He wan't "just" an actor, he was the generator that made Raw the "a" show for 3 years. (Despite backstage politics shoving everything into the Monday Night Show)

His voice will always be the one that delivers the "The Elimination Chamber!" line so well that he owns it and is featured in all the EC match video packages to make it sound devastating. "Hell in a Cell!" comes close, but Vince will always own that.

It's disappointing that he needs that kind of help to be a great boss. He ran WCW into the ground and will do the same to TNA. I'm gad he didn't run thing his way. No one will ever touch his position, it's Vince McMahon, then Eric Bischoff, then Vickie Guerrero in people with power. Unfortunately Johnny doesn't come till after Mike Adamle and Triple H.